Chillingworth's Jealousy

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In The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorn, Roger Chillingworth is a scholar that uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor. His intent on disguising himself is to get revenge on Hester Prynne's lover Dimmesdale. Chillingworth finds out Dimmesdale has an affair with his wife creating jealousy and anger that fuels him. This jealousy makes Chillingworth become a sinful person and he slowly becomes more involved in destroying Dimmesdale's life. Chillingworth starts to forget about everything else and focuses only on creating a bad life for Dimmesdale. His relentlessness for revenge will create a change his body and personality. Hawthorne's uses a character with such evil as Chillingworth to show how deliberate sin is the worst…show more content…
He explains how he is upset that her lover is not on the scaffold with her “It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he will be known!-he will be known!-he will be known”(Hawthorne, 44)! Chillingworth says he will be known three times to show his powerful desire for revenge. This powerful desire shows how he becomes very evil, trying continuously to make Dimmesdales life the worst. Chillingworth becomes so involved in revenge that further into the novel, his body takes physical changes because his personality becomes so twisted. “In a word, old roger chillingworth was a striking evidence of a man's faculty of transforming into…show more content…
The physician in the town is often referred to a "leech”, a worm who attaches itself to a host and sucks blood from host to nurture itself. The term leech is a symbolic comparison to Chillingworth who attaches himself to Dimmsdale, sucking the life and energy out of him for revenge. Chillingworth is successfully torturing Dimmesdale making him weaker and weaker. “About this period, however, the health of Mr. Dimmesdale had evidently begun to fail...the paleness of his was accounted for by his too earnest devotion to study”(82, Hawthorne). Chillingworth's torture is starting to take a tole on Dimmesdale, successfully sucking the life out of him. Chillingworth's revenge is dependent on not the healing, but rather the destruction of Dimmesdale, showing how evil he truly
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